Traditional appliance doors have a factory-installed exterior cover that is made from high grade sheet steel, such as stainless steel, or from corrosion-protected sheet steel. More recently, appliances have been integrated into kitchen furniture or installed adjacent thereto and the design of such doors is often matched to the adjacent kitchen furniture.
An integrated appliance door can be constructed with an appliance panel, which performs the function of sealing the internal space of the appliance and is usually preassembled on the appliance as supplied by the manufacturer, and a decorative panel, which is subsequently joined to the appliance panel after the appliance is installed in its intended place of use. An objective during installation of such a decorative panel is to achieve flush and level alignment with the kitchen furniture adjacent thereto. With integrated appliances, the length and/or width of the decorative panel is generally a few centimeters longer and/or wider than the appliance panel since the decorative panel must cover both the appliance panel as well as the opening for the space in which the appliance is installed.
Current mechanisms for decorative panel adjustment require a great deal of time and effort. For instance, existing mechanisms typically utilize turnscrew posts to provide vertical lift to decorative panels. Such mechanisms are difficult to access, not easily operated, and fail to achieve precise decorative panel adjustment.
Accordingly, a leveling assembly that allows for more efficient decorative panel adjustment would be desirable. An appliance door incorporating such a leveling assembly would be particularly useful.